Every Monday evening I take my now 5 month old GSD to puppy socialization class and I have since she was 8 weeks old.

She has always loved the class and has a great time wrestling and playing with the other puppies.

So last night we went to the 6 pm class bc the past 2 weeks Lucie was the only one who showed to the 7pm class and the trainer told us to come at 6. So I got my kids and Lucie ready and off we went. Class was going on Lucie made friends with a pitbull and really wanted to play with the golden retriever.

This is when I should've realized there was a problem. The owner of the golden kept following behind Lucie when she would chase after him. Everytime Lucie would start to pull and wrestle with the golden the owner would collar Lucie and tell her to be nice. I had politely told the woman Lucie wasn't hurting her puppy they're just playing. But the Golden's owner continues her behavior everytime Lucie came near her puppy. Please know Lucie was in no way hurting her puppy as I would've stepped in if that was the case.

My son and I were filling water dishes for the dogs when I looked over and this woman had a hold of Lucie's collar again and her puppy was at her feet and she slapped my Lucie I asked her nicely not to slap my dog and before I could reach Lucie this woman slapped her a second time and I screamed at her for slapping Lucie. I yelled at the trainer that this woman had just slapped my dog and I was leaving. I was shaking from the anger I felt of this woman putting her hands on my Lucie girl.

I demanded the girls at the counter refund my money for the class and they did and apologized. One of them grabbed a supervisor and asked me to wait while they figured out what happened. When the supervisor came back she said the woman apologized and they advised her that they don't allow the abuse of animals. They actually told me I could go back to the class which I told them I wasn't subjecting Lucie to that ever again. That could've potentially given her a bad socialization experience. I was shocked that the woman who slapped Lucie wasn't asked to leave and it was us who left.

They claim they would have someone call me today to discuss what happened. But I feel there isn't much to discuss that woman should be banned for the mistreatment of Lucie. And someone should call the humane society as who knows what she does to her puppy. Was I wrong for losing my temper and screaming?? Should I even consider taking her back there??

I feel my actions were justified. As Lucie is one of my children not just some dog.

Why weren't you preventing your dog from playing with her dog...sorry, you were in the wrong the whole time. The woman should have never had the opportunity to slap your dog because YOU should've been there redirecting your dog away from her dog.

It was clear she wasn't comfortable with the way YOUR dog was playing with her dog. And the fact is that you saw that and didn't do anything about it. It doesn't matter if your dog wasn't hurting her dog...people set different boundaries for their dogs and you shouldn't allow your dog to cross them once you see what they are. Trainer seems inept too because they didn't say something to you about it either.

Even if your puppy wasn't hurting her puppy, your dog is setting an example for that dog and is being dominant and rough. How would you feel if my 85lbs GSD was on top of your puppy "playing" and not hurting it? You lifted him once, twice, told him no, but I just stood there and didn't do anything to prevent it again?

You seem to be focused on the slap...that's your prerogative. I would've had to physically correct your dog as well in that situation since YOU weren't doing anything about it. Would a harder yank on the flat collar been a better correction in your eyes? Clearly your dog wasn't getting the message.

I don't fault you for screaming at the woman either. That is ridiculous behavior on her part.

I do think you probably should have stepped in earlier when the woman was grabbing Lucie's collar. I don't allow anyone to touch my pups without my permission. Something to remember for the future.

Your pup doesn't have to be manhandled to get good socialization experiences with people, so I tend to nip any unsanctioned handling in the bud and only allow very closely supervised and controlled physical interaction between my pup and any other person.

Why weren't you preventing your dog from playing with her dog...sorry, you were in the wrong the whole time. The woman should have never had the opportunity to slap your dog because YOU should've been there redirecting your dog away from her dog.

It was clear she wasn't comfortable with the way YOUR dog was playing with her dog. And the fact is that you saw that and didn't do anything about it. It doesn't matter if your dog wasn't hurting her dog...people set different boundaries for their dogs and you shouldn't allow your dog to cross them once you see what they are. Trainer seems inept too because they didn't say something to you about it either.

Even if your puppy wasn't hurting her puppy, your dog is setting an example for that dog and is being dominant and rough. How would you feel if my 85lbs GSD was on top of your puppy "playing" and not hurting it? You lifted him once, twice, told him no, but I just stood there and didn't do anything to prevent it again?

You seem to be focused on the slap...that's your prerogative. I would've had to physically correct your dog as well in that situation since YOU weren't doing anything about it. Would a harder yank on the flat collar been a better correction in your eyes? Clearly your dog wasn't getting the message.

I agree totally.

Jason

Albus "Dobby" Van Meerhout

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Going to reserve judgement because I didnt see what happened. I will say this though. If i have groups of puppies in board and train and one gets over aggressive with another and starts to ruin the experience of the other i will step in with a physical correction strong enough to stop the behavior, and if necessary repeat it with gradually stronger corrections until the puppy cools it. It doesn't ruin them. If done right and consistently it teaches them how to interact in a proper way instead of the usual lord of the flies puppy free for all you see at a lot of places.

Did she go overboard? Maybe. Should you have seen your puppy was doing things that bothered another person and stepped in to stop it instead of insisting your judgement was the right one? Probably. Dunno how much sympathy i have for you.

Wow, I'm really surprised at these responses. Maybe she should of been watching her pup better but I'm guessing the trainer was in the room with the pups, you know, the person in charge of the class. Puppy classes are for owners and pups to learn. A physical slap on any dog is totally unacceptable, whether it's your own or someone else's. I thought the world had moved on from that style of correction.

Me too. And I would like to add that the person conducting the class should have been all over it as well. I took Dude to a class in Carson where it was absolute chaos. I wound up leashing him and standing from the side and watching because the trainer wasn't ensuring the people watched their dogs. It seemed more like a human socialization while the dogs did whatever they wanted.

Am taking him to a different class now where the trainer is more on top of things... However I never take my eyes off him for even a second, I don't dare let him have any bad experiences!!!

The situation was mishandled all around. You should have been on top of your dog like the golden retriever's was and she should not have slapped your dog but contacted the trainer who should have been on top of both of you before this all got out of hand.

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